Great Britain’s women were beaten as Australia broke the world record by nearly three seconds in the Track World Championships team pursuit final.

They denied Katie Archibald, Elinor Barker, Laura Trott and Joanna Rowsell a fifth straight gold and inflicted on them their first defeat in four years.

Australia won gold with a blistering time of four minutes 13.683 seconds.

The GB men’s pursuit team also had to settle for silver after a desperately close battle with New Zealand.

Ed Clancy, Steven Burke, Andy Tennant and Owain Doull clocked an impressive time of 3:54.687 in a final in which they had opened up a lead of more than half a second.

However, a final-lap surge from New Zealand saw them edge back ahead to take the gold in a time of 3:54.088 and deny Britain a first gold in the event since 2012.

But the performance of the evening came from Australia’s women Annette Edmondson, Ashlee Ankudinoff, Amy Cure and Melissa Hoskins as they demolished Britain’s previous world record of 4:16.552.

“I’m a bit gutted, I guess,” said Trott, who had previously always taken gold in the event since her Track World Championships debut in 2011.

“It’s the first one we’ve lost so a bit of a shock but they rode a 4:13 which is unbelievable. We’ve never gone anywhere near doing that so hats off to them.

“It’s disappointing. We are used to being on the top step so it was a different feeling. But we rode a PB, quicker than we’ve ever been before at sea level, and for us that is a massive step. It also shows we have work to do.”

Earlier Britain’s Jason Kenny, the 2013 world champion, failed to qualify in the men’s keirin.

“I was just a spectator and never really got involved in the race,” he said.

In 2006 Armstrong, 43, received $7.5m (£4.88m) in payments from SCA relating to his seven Tour de France victories.

Armstrong admitted to doping and was found to have lied in proceedings.

SCA said: “The award, which must be paid directly to SCA, is believed to be the largest award of sanctions assessed against an individual in American judicial history.”

SCA initially refused to pay out money covering the bonus for Armstrong’s sixth Tour de France win in 2004.

Armstrong took the company to an arbitration hearing in Dallas in 2005 and won, because the contract between the parties stipulated the insurance money would be payable if Armstrong was the “official winner” of the Tour.

He was awarded $2.5m (£1.6m) in damages and costs.

“SCA’s dispute with Armstrong is not over,” said the firm.

“It has a currently pending lawsuit in Dallas state district court where it is pursuing additional claims against Lance Armstrong and Bill Stapleton (Armstrong’s agent).”

In 2012, the United States Anti-Doping Agency issued Armstrong with a life ban and stripped all seven of his Tour de France titles.

The Texan was accused of being part of the “most sophisticated, professionalised and successful doping programme” that sport had ever known.

During a 2013 television interview with American talk-show host Oprah Winfrey, Armstrong confessed that he used banned performance-enhancing drugs throughout much of his cycling career.

Last month, the Texan told the BBC , when asked if he would make the same choice to cheat that he made in 1995: “When I made the decision, when my team made that decision, when the whole peloton made that decision, it was a bad decision and an imperfect time.

“But it happened. And I know what happened because of that. I know what happened to the sport, I saw its growth.”

SCA Promotions president and founder Bob Hamman said: “It is hard to describe how much harm Lance Armstrong’s web of lies caused SCA but this is a good first start towards repairing that damage.”

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Mark Cavendish secured his second victory of the season after winning the opening stage of the Dubai Tour in a sprint finish.

Cavendish, cycling for Etixx-Quick Step, pipped Italians Andrea Guardini, of Astana, and Team Sky’s Elia Viviani, to the end of the 90-mile route from the Dubai International Marine Club to the Union House Flag.

The win follows the Briton’s victory at the Tour de San Luis in Argentina last week.

“I’m super happy with my form and the cohesion between Etixx-Quick Step,” he said. “We really rode strong as a team in Argentina and we rode really well as a team in Dubai today. All winter I was happy.

“At training camp it was such a strong ambiance. We knew we’d start off on a good note this season. We won more than 60 races last year and we want to try and or better than this year.

“It’s not going to be a big ask I don’t think, because we can feel the desire and motivation to go out as a unit and win.”

Meanwhile, fellow Briton Lizzie Armitstead was third on stage two of the women’s Tour of Qatar to sit second overall.

The Commonwealth Games champion was three seconds behind Ellen van Dijk on the 70-mile route from Al Zubarah Fort to Madinat Al Shamal, which the Dutchwoman won.

Van Dijk and Armitstead are team-mates on the Boels Dolmans squad and the Yorkshirewoman may ride in support of the Dutchwoman in the race, which finishes on Friday.

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Former Team Sky doctor Geert Leinders has been banned for life for multiple doping violations, the United States Anti-Doping Agency has announced.

The Belgian was guilty of violations carried out when he worked for Rabobank cycling team between 1996 and 2009.

He was later a freelance consultant for Team Sky in 2011 and 2012, but team principal Sir Dave Brailsford has since said the appointment was a mistake.

Team Sky made a public commitment to a zero tolerance policy to anti-doping.

USADA said on Thursday that during his time at Rabobank, Leinders “possessed, trafficked, and administered banned performance-enhancing substances without any legitimate medical need”.

Leinders was not part of Team Sky’s staff when Sir Bradley Wiggins’ won the 2012 Tour de France, and Sky ended their involvement with Leinders in October 2012.

In the same month, Brailsford said: “We set out with a zero tolerance policy, so we said that anyone who has had a doping conviction from the past or proved to have been involved in doping hasn’t got a place on Team Sky. That is our policy.”